


Lover

by themaimevent



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caroline Forbes-centric, Damon Salvatore Bashing, Endgame Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Gen, Inspired by Taylor Swift, Mentions of Taylor Swift, Rape/Non-con Elements, because s1 Damon, it's a lot of relationship tags but all of them will be explored
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27766936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themaimevent/pseuds/themaimevent
Summary: Encased in shiny plastic in her hands is an image of a smizing blonde chick, surrounded by clipart butterflies. The bottom left-hand corner reads “Taylor Swift”.It’s not just a CD, she decides. It’s a metaphor. A metaphor for how terrible a father Bill Forbes really is.(Or, the life and times of Caroline Forbes as told through Taylor Swift's discography).
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Damon Salvatore, Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes/Stefan Salvatore, Caroline Forbes/Tyler Lockwood
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	Lover

** December 25, 2006 **

For Christmas, Caroline got her Dad a cardigan. 

He got her a CD.

Encased in shiny plastic in her hands is an image of a smizing blonde chick, surrounded by clipart butterflies. The bottom left-hand corner reads “Taylor Swift”. Horror slowly dawns on her as she realizes it’s a  _ country  _ album. ( _ Seriously _ ?! Does the man not know her _ at all _ ?! Mystic Falls might be a small-town but that does _ not _ mean Caroline’s going to let herself become a small-town stereotype).

It’s not just a CD, she decides. It’s a metaphor. A metaphor for how terrible a father Bill Forbes really is. And she means to tell him as much, but then she looks up.

But, _ ugh _ , her dad is looking at her with pleading eyes. His right hand is gripping Steven’s so hard his knuckles are white, but Steven is only resting his other hand on Bill’s shoulder and looking at her with equal anticipation. They both look so hopeful.

Caroline knows what this means. If she gives into him now, he’ll think everything’s fine. It means that she’s forgiven him. It’s  _ totally _ unfair because  _ he’s _ the one who abandoned her to her fashion-repellant mom so he could run off with a man and  _ he’s  _ the one who’s making her spend Christmas Eve with him and Steve instead of being with her friends at the Lockwood’s holiday party, and _ he’s _ the one who got her some random country album for arguably her favorite holiday. But she’s never seen him happier than he’s been today, and deep down, she loves him enough to want that for him.

“I love it!” She tells them.

Both Steven and her father visibly sag with relief. Bill releases his death grip on Steven’s hand, and they smile at each other in a way that Caroline’s never seen her dad _ do  _ before. Caroline fixes on her pageant smile, the one she’s been practicing in the mirror since she was six. Her dad doesn’t notice it’s forced. (Whatever. Let it be known that Caroline Forbes  _ can _ actually be the bigger person.)

When she gets back to Mystic Falls, she finds a hidden spot for the CD in her closet, and sets about the task of choosing the perfect outfit for New Year’s at the Gilberts’.

** December 2008 **

Her dad’s gift comes in the mail. He and Steven are in Cabo for Christmas, which she tells him is okay, because now she can go to the Lockwood party. 

She’s magnanimous enough to leave the little package from her Dad under the Christmas tree. She’s not magnanimous enough to wrap the thing, or to keep herself from pushing it to the back, behind all the other, perfectly wrapped ones. Sue her.

She opens it on Christmas morning. She’s not surprised to see a curly-haired blonde looking up at her.  _ Fearless _ , the album is called, and she scoffs. 

It joins the other one in the back of the closet.

**September 2009**

Elena ruins everything for Caroline, in her usual holier-than-thou way. Tonight, it’s ripping off Caroline’s carefully placed scarf to reveal the bite marks Damon has given her. 

Damon drags her out behind the Lockwood Mansion in a death grip. (Get it? Death grip? Because he’s dead, and she’s probably about to be?). 

She hears a voice pleading with him. It’s her. She’s pleading with him. G-d, she probably sounds every bit as pathetic as he says she is. His expression remains the same, though. Cold. Calculated. Empty. She’s never been anywhere as cold as the ice blue of Damon’s eyes. 

He walks behind her. She can’t breathe.

“You make me crazy, you know that?”

Caroline doesn’t know. She feels like  _ he _ makes  _ her _ crazy. Damon’s like her compass these days, she can’t tell up from down without him. His presence is dizzying, but his absence leaves holes that she can’t explain.

“Shh,” he soothes. “It’s okay.”

Caroline sags with relief. He’s peppering her neck with gentle kisses, the way he does when he’s worked her up too much. It’s just control freak anxiety, she tells herself.

“Unfortunately, I am so over you now.”

Her blood runs cold just before his teeth sink into her neck.

( _ “Are you going to kill me?” she’d asked from underneath him this afternoon.  _

_ “Not yet.”) _

She wakes in the morning, sore and fuzzy on the details of the Founder’s Ball the previous night. Damon was being a dick. One of her friends had probably brought her home. She hopes she didn’t drink too much in front of everyone.  _ Total _ social faux-pas.

She decides to shake off the previous night with a good old-fashioned deep clean, which is how she ends up in the back of her closet with two CDs in her hand.

Damon had bragged, once, about his “unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift”. Maybe that’s what does it, or maybe it’s the yearning for her father that she would never admit aloud. Either way, she pops the CD into the player. 

(An electric thrill that runs through her at the thought of doing something Damon wouldn’t want her to.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic so please comment and leave constructive criticism!


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